a history

Victor was born in Luxembourg-Town at 81 rue des juifs on 17th July 1827. His parents were Lazar(d) Kahn and Jeanette Isaac Kahn (néé Lazard – born in 1794 Haute-Yutz, France).

About 1851 in Paris he married Madeline (Mathilde) Cahen, a dressmaker (b. Paris about 1833). Two children were born while the couple lived in France – Pauline (b. 1852) and Artur or Arthur (b. 1854. At that time, the family lived at passage de l’entrepot des marais (probably in the 10th district of Paris).

In 1856, they all moved to Liverpool, where their first recorded address was 13 Moon Street. They had five more children: Charles Jasmine (b. 1856); Alexander Gaston (more generally known as Gaston Victor – b. 1858); Luci (or Lucea or Lucy) Henrietta (b. 1861); Emelia/Emily (b. 1863) and Phillipe (b. 1866 – d. 1874).

Victor’s occupation was shown as “merchant’s shipping clerk” although later he was described as an interpreter and passenger agent for the Cunard Shipping Line in Liverpool. He joined the St John’s Lodge of Freemasons in 1862, remaining a member until 1868.

After having several addresses in Liverpool, the family moved to 15 Crown Street between 1862 and 1871. Gore’s Trade Directory of 1867 and 1880 list Victor as an interpreter. In 1872, Victor presented a ceremonial sword and a large Norwegian copper coin to the Museum and Gallery of Art in Liverpool. He was said to have found them in Gibraltar Bay.

His wife, Mathilde, (as she was by this time) died in 1883 and was interred in Green Lane Jewish Cemetery in Liverpool.

The Liverpool Mercury of 24th December 1888 carried an article reviewing a well known waxworks exhibition at Reynolds Amusements of 12 Lime Street, Liverpool. The exhibition featured various local characters and the article quotes “… you will recognise the well-known features of Victor Kahn, interpreter for Cunard Company.)

By 1891, Victor was living with his daughter Luci Matthews at Tollemache Street, 6 Southview Drive, Liscard in Cheshire. He died there on 20 October 1899 and was buried close to Mathilde in the Green Lane cemetery at Tuebrook, West Derby, Liverpool.

The photograph is the only known image of Victor. Vandyke, the photographer, had a studio close to Victor’s home and we believe the picture was taken in the late 1870s or early 1880s.

As a note of special interest, various documentary sources revealed that Victor frequently (if not invariably) signed his name with a double-n, hence Kahnn. His parents and children all used the single-n form of the name. Reasons are unknown.

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I am pretty sure that we have a picture of Victor Kahn as an older man. I used to spend hours as a child looking over the old photo books in my grandparents house and I was particularly fascinated by that photograph because it was the oldest photograph they had.

Hopefully I can find it when I return to the UK this year. Meanwhile I have acquired the Aunty Hetty tapes my grandmother recorded in the 1950s and have converted to digital if you are interested. I believe she was Louis Matthews sister but I may be wrong.